Organizations Have Opinions: A Redefinition of Publics

Random telephone interviews of organizations reveal that, contraryto popular belief, organizations do have opinions and that suchopinions can be obtained by use of traditional survey methods.In addition, when compared with a sample of individuals, theopinions of organizations differ from those of individuals onsome questions and not on others. It is suggested, therefore,that the omission of organizations from public opinion researchmay result in a misrepresentation of reality.